5. Francois Pienaar \u2013 South Africa<\/p>\n
Some sporting moments transcend the game itself.<\/p>\n
Pienaar lifting the Webb Ellis Cup alongside Nelson Mandela following South Africa\u2019s victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup remains one of rugby\u2019s most iconic images.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, Pienaar captained the Springboks in every one of his 29 Test appearances.<\/p>\n
His international career was relatively short, but few captains have left a greater legacy.<\/p>\n
4. John Eales \u2013 Australia<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t call him\u00a0\u2018Nobody\u2019\u00a0for nothing \u2013 because nobody\u2019s perfect.<\/p>\n
Eales was an extraordinary player and an equally accomplished captain, leading Australia to their second Rugby World Cup title in 1999.<\/p>\n
A lock who could dominate the lineout and then calmly step up to kick match-winning penalties, he became the face of one of the greatest periods in Wallabies history.<\/p>\n
3. Martin Johnson \u2013 England<\/p>\n
The man who led England to the summit.<\/p>\n
Johnson captained Sir Clive Woodward\u2019s side to the 2003 Grand Slam before lifting the Rugby World Cup in Sydney later that year.<\/p>\n
His leadership credentials extended far beyond England.<\/p>\n
Johnson is also the only player to have captained the British & Irish Lions on two separate tours, leading them in South Africa in 1997 and Australia in 2001.<\/p>\n
For presence, authority and sheer intimidation, there have been few better.<\/p>\n
2. Siya Kolisi \u2013 South Africa<\/p>\n
From humble beginnings to becoming one of the most important figures in rugby history.<\/p>\n
Kolisi made history when he became the Springboks\u2019 first black Test captain in 2018.<\/p>\n
What followed was extraordinary.<\/p>\n
He led South Africa to World Cup glory in Japan in 2019 before repeating the achievement in France four years later.<\/p>\n
Two World Cups as captain puts Kolisi in incredibly rare company, while his influence and significance away from the pitch make his legacy even greater.<\/p>\n
But he just misses out on top spot.<\/p>\n
Have your say<\/p>\n
1. Richie McCaw \u2013 New Zealand<\/p>\n
Who else?<\/p>\n
McCaw didn\u2019t simply captain one of rugby\u2019s greatest teams \u2013 he helped create the standards that made them almost unbeatable.<\/p>\n
The legendary flanker captained New Zealand a record 110 times and became the first man to lift the Rugby World Cup twice as skipper.<\/p>\n
He guided the All Blacks to glory on home soil in 2011 before doing it all over again at Twickenham four years later.<\/p>\n
Add in countless Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup triumphs, an astonishing winning record and his status as one of the greatest players ever to lace up a pair of boots, and McCaw remains the benchmark.<\/p>\n
Richie McCaw is our greatest rugby captain of all-time.<\/p>\n
LATEST ULTIMATE SEVENS NEWS <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5. Francois Pienaar \u2013 South Africa Some sporting moments transcend the game itself. Pienaar lifting the Webb Ellis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-768384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}